Everything's fine: you're young, you have a great job that lets you travel a lot, and a wonderful boyfriend like Francesco who loves you so much.

But you're also worried, because you feel like something's missing. Maybe it's that marriage proposal you've been waiting for years, which has never arrived. You've talked about it, but you feel like he doesn't want to commit. You often talk about it with your friends all over Europe: fearful that he doesn't love you enough, that he's attracted by someone else. Many episodes when it seems like he's taking the initiative, but then he confuses you: false alarms, wrong leads, dead ends.

One day, your company sends you on a mission to Colombia: a trade deal in Cartagena, explaining the quality of the electronic components you sell around the world, a routine you've become accustomed to. As often happens, you go with your lifelong friend and colleague: Silvia, the beautiful Sicilian you met on that Erasmus exchange in Dublin that changed your lives.

A long economy flight, a night preparation for the meeting with your clients the next day. Normal, almost boring. Moreover, the phone calls with Francesco are weird: you feel like he's evasive, as if he doesn't want to talk.

At sunset, after the meeting, you and Silvia want to relax on the hotel rooftop pool. You order two beers and settle into a corner of the pool, away from the hustle of families and teenagers.

There are two girls, who suddenly turn around.

"Hi, Barbara. We've been waiting for you!" They say it almost together, with that unmistakable Spanish accent. Patricia is from Seville, she loves flamenco and handsome boys: while she hugs you, she gets distracted by staring at the dad playing with his kids in the pool. Next to her, Ines's eyes are happy, sparkling, as always.

“What are you doing here?” You look at Silvia, who is smiling, and you don't understand: you haven't seen them in person for at least five years, when you said goodbye in front of a pub in Temple Bar: it was your farewell party, the last day in Ireland.

You feel the tears appear in your eyes when you notice two more girls arriving, towels tied to their chests. You recognize them, and you want to faint.

Elin is Swedish, introverted and quiet, the most sensitive, always ready with a smile and a phone call when you need a friendly voice. Annette, on the other hand, is strict, precise, a mother with a classical German education. But now she's happy, she seems like the twenty-year-old again, enjoying one cocktail after the other in Irish pubs.

"I can't believe it. You're all here. But why? I don't understand." You're confused, from a normal business trip you've fallen back into the best time of your life, where you founded your friendship.

Against the light, with the sunset behind him, a tall man wearing sunglasses and a hat approaches the poolside. It's Francesco.

Now the confusion is total: you look at them, laughing like crazy, then at him staring at you, his eyes full of love.

"Sorry we didn't tell you anything, Barbara. We wanted to surprise you: they told me they couldn't miss this moment." He takes something from his pocket and kneels down.

"Will you marry me?"